Liquid captain siuhy cites confidence drop after IEM Atlanta

Liquid were eliminated from IEM Atlanta after a 0-2 loss to GamerLegion on May 13 in Atlanta. The team opened the event with a 0-2 defeat to Astralis on May 11, then beat M80 2-1 on May 13 before the elimination match against GamerLegion.

Captain Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek said the squad had spent three weeks practicing at home ahead of the event but failed to show that work in official matches. “We had three weeks at home where we were able to practice and put in a lot of hours and perfect the things that we wanted to perfect on the server,” he said, adding that Dust2, a map that played well in practice, did not hold up under tournament conditions.

Szkaradek pointed to a drop in confidence as a reason for the gap between practice and match play. He described a sense of helplessness after several poor finishes and said the team may need a clear, confident win to reverse the trend. “Maybe we just need that one good win, one confident win, where we do everything perfectly,” he said, noting that momentum in Counter-Strike can change in a single round.

Liquid moved to the Americas Valve Regional Standings region after signing Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa to replace Guy “NertZ” Iluz and narrowly qualified for the IEM Cologne Major. The roster change occurred about two months before Atlanta.

On malbsMd’s integration, Szkaradek described him as a selfless player who has helped balance the squad’s aggressive and passive play. He said malbsMd has contributed ideas to the team’s approach rather than only fitting into the existing system.

The organization will next compete at CAC in China, followed by the IEM Cologne Major. Szkaradek said the team will focus on being mentally prepared for those events and making the most of the remaining tournaments in the season.